The Supreme Court overturns decision on Heathrow Airport expansion.
The Supreme Court has lifted their ban on a third runway at Heathrow Airport. The Court of Appeal previously blocked the expansion, claiming that the government’s airport strategy wasn’t in line with the UK’s climate targets. In a surprising turn of events, the Court has done a complete 180 and are now in full support of the additional runway.
They revealed that their former decision failed to take into account the government’s commitment to tackling climate change and keeping the global temperature rise as close to 1.5°C as possible. So the UK’s largest and busiest airport may be getting a third runway after all!
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Developers can now seek planning permission for the additional runway, although there are still plenty of obstacles in their way. Firstly, they have to persuade a public enquiry that there is justification for the expansion and even if they get the go ahead, the government has the final say.
Furthermore, environmentalists and local residents have been avidly campaigning against the expansion and will likely continue. They claim that a new runway would lead to dangerously high levels of noise and pollution, as well as having a negative impact on the air quality.
The Department for Transport are a lot more optimistic about the expansion, stressing that it will drastically increase international trade, boost the wider economy by up to £61bn and provide over 70,000 people with local jobs by 2030.
According to a Heathrow spokesman “Only by expanding the UK’s hub airport can we connect all of Britain to all of the growing markets of the world, helping to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in every nation and region of our country. Demand for aviation will recover from Covid-19, and the additional capacity at an expanded Heathrow will allow Britain as a sovereign nation to compete for trade.”
The planning application may take over a year to complete, so only time will tell if Heathrow Airport will gain another runway.
